1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lever connection type waterproofing connector for forming an electric circuit therewith. More particularly, the present invention relates to improvement of a lever connecting type waterproofing connector of the foregoing type which assures that a male connector housing can be properly fitted into a female connector housing regardless of thermal deformation of an engagement ring.
2. Background
To facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a conventional connector of the above type will be described below with reference to FIGS. 6-8.
As shown in FIG. 6, the conventional connector includes as essential components a male connector housing a, a female connector housing c adapted to receive a fitting sleeve portion b of the male connector housing a in an inlet portion d thereof, a sealing member e adapted to be fitted in the bottom of the inlet portion d of the female connector housing c, and an engagement ring f adapted to be fitted into the inlet portion d of the female connector housing. In the clamped position, the sealing member e is elastically retained between the engagement ring f and the bottom wall of the inlet portion d of the female connector housing c.
As also shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, support shafts h are disposed on the opposite side walls of the female connector housing c for rotatably supporting a lever g. Additionally, receiving slits j are formed on the opposite side walls of the female housing for slidably receiving fitting protuberances i projecting outwardly from the opposite side walls of the fitting sleeve portion b of the male connector housing a.
Similarly, receiving slits j' are formed in the opposite side walls of the engagement ring f in alignment with the receiving slits j in the female connector housing c. Additionally, connecting slots k are formed in opposite side walls of the lever g. During the locking operation, the fitting protuberances i are initially slidably displaced along the receiving slits j of the female connector housing c and the receiving slits j' of the engagement ring f so that the protuberances are received in connecting slots K of the lever g. Thereafter, the lever is rotated causing the male connector housing to be inserted into the female connector housing by a camming action.
An external engagement arm m extends from a top wall of the engagement ring f, and an associated engagement recess n is formed on a top wall of the female connector housing c. With this construction, the engagement arm m of the engagement ring f engages the engagement recess n of the female connector housing c when the engagement ring f is fitted into the inlet portion d of the female connector housing c.
Usually, the male connector housing a, the female connector housing c and the engagement ring f are molded of a synthetic resin by employing an injection molding process. However, there sometimes arises a malfunction in that the opposite side walls of the engagement ring f, having long receiving slits j' formed therein, are thermally deformed in such a manner as to reduce the width of each receiving slit j' at the opened end portion as shown in FIG. 7 as a result of the heating of the engagement ring f during the injection-molding process.
As noted above, the receiving slits j' of the engagement ring f are formed in the opposite side walls of the engagement ring f in alignment with the receiving slits j of the female connector housing c, and moreover, the engagement arm m is disposed on the top wall of the engagement ring f. Thus, when the opposite side walls of the engagement ring f become thermally deformed, the leading end o of the inlet portion d of the female connector housing c becomes outwardly deformed beyond the outer peripheral wall of the engagement ring f when the engagement ring f is forcibly fitted into the female connector housing c. As a result, the engagement ring f is incorrectly fitted into the female connector housing c.
To assure that the engagement ring f is properly fitted into the female connector housing c, it is necessary that the thermally deformed state of the engagement ring f be corrected. Consequently, there arise problems in regard to the coupling of the connector so that the reliability of the connector is deteriorated.